[masklinn]

> After the Sea People invaded Mesopotamia

The eastern mediterranean basin. AFAIK Assyria wasn't directly affected, the polities directly affected were Mycenaean Greece (collapsed), the Hittite empire of Anatolia (collapsed) and the Kingdom of Egypt (which repelled the Sea People but likely at high cost).

The Assyrian Empire contracted at a later date, possibly as an indirect consequence of the collapse.

> If we regressed again, it could take a very long time to recover, because of the exponential growth you mention.

An other issue is the ability to access resources. As a civilisation progresses it consumes easily accessible non-renewable resources, the more it progresses the more difficult to access the resources it consumes entirely.

A civilisation following the collapse of the current globalist one would have a very, very hard time accessing non-renewable resources to fuel its growth.

[domevent]

This book discusses that time period I’m fine detail, and ultimately presents a very compelling series of perspectives. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1177_B.C.:_The_Year_Civiliza...

If you’re familiar with the LBA collapse, you’ll enjoy the read.